Saturday, January 30, 2010

The weather continues to bring lots of cold snow which is great. On Thursday I was out in the thick of it with Nick Rowles learning about snow safety at Le Tour. It was bitterly cold.On Friday Chris Boulton returned with eight of his pals and we went to Combloux and skied [and fell in various streams] the beautiful valley to Gietaz before having a late lunch at the Christomet.Overnight it snowed a lot. So much so that everything was closed in Chamonix. We headed to St Gervais where not only did we have fantastic snow but the sun came out and we were able to get first tracks off the summit of Mt Joly in near perfect deep light powder.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Once again the Flying Grannies have totaly shattered me. They have an average age of 70 years, they are out of the door at 8.30am and don't stop skiing until it goes dark. They hate skiing on the piste [too icy and too crowded] instead they like nothing better than "zooming" around in the trees, or completeing long remote descents in un tracked snow.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Chris Dovell and Simon Warren and I went to explore behind Les Marcottes. We took the lift up to the top of the resort and then climbed up to the La Golette in just over an hour. At the top we were greeted with a spectacular view of the Dent du Midi. We skied down to the lake in powder over fabulous undulating terrain. We then stuck the skins on again and climbed up to the Col d'Emaney with Chris ploughing a track for us.We were greeted by another jaw dropping view. We then skied down some complicated terrain into a deserted valley. Getting out of the valley was not without interest, but just added to the adventure. A brilliant day in the wild mountains where we saw no one.

Monday, January 18, 2010

I was back in Les Contamines today to ski with Simon. In the morning we skied off piste in very good powder. In the afternoon we hopped over the Col de Fenetre and skied all the way down the Gorge to the car.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

BUT only if you are a women. Megeve had what I consider a bizzare promotion where by on this particular Sunday if you were female you could ski for free. But there were apparently going to be no free skis days for males planned. Anyway we skied off piste in snowy conditions and had a very good time. We finished with an excellent late lunch at the Christomet.

Monday, January 11, 2010

As so often is the case you make your own luck. We left Chamonix in thick mist and slippy roads and headed for Verbier. We headed for the Savoleyers side. As we rode the tiny bubble we popped out of the fog to clear blue skies. I called Air Glacier and they sent a helicopter to take us all to the summit of the Rosa Blanche where we landed in perfect conditions. We skied down to Siviez where we had a late lunch before picking up the lift system that took us back over to Verbier and back down into thick Fog.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Florence took two days off school to compete in the Anglo- Scottish Cup on Monday and Tuesday. The races were held at Les Houches during a heavy snow fall. There were two sets of giant slalom races. Florence came third in both races.

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About Me

Mark Seaton is an internationally-qualified Mountain Guide. He is a member of both the British and French mountain guides associations. He lives with his wife Jane, their daughters Andrea, Florence and Sophie, and their Bernese mountain dog, Walter, in the Chamonix Valley. He is author of the Mark the Mountain Guide books.